Mall of America - Part 1

I took Caleb on the log chute for the first time. He wasn't that scared! Sorry about the quality of the picture. I was too cheap to buy the photo they take, so I took a picture of the screen. Everyone said I looked mad or bored in it, but truthfully I was trying really hard to not have the same look on my face as Caleb!
Luke on the Blue's Clues ride.
The shark from the aquarium in the mall was walking around and Luke for once agreed to pose for a picture.
Caleb ready to roll on the bumper cars.
Mommy and Luke on the Diego ride.

Day Six

After being on the road for a few days we were pretty beat, so we just hung around my brother's house and relaxed. Noah is the only one who went out and did something. He went fishing with Uncle Ed! Tomorrow we're going to Mall of America, so I should have some good pictures then.


Noah proud of his catch.
Luke playing in the backyard with Parker.
Noah and Caleb playing fetch with Angel.
Luke liked to lock himself in the dog run and then yell "help"!
Katie and Darian out in my brother's front yard. It's so lush and green here!

Day Five - Minnesota!

Our drive to Minnesota was our longest yet. 11 1/2 hours including stops! The kids still did really great. It's really cold and rainy here. I don't think I packed enough cold-weather clothes. I might need to make a trip to the store to pick up some pants and long sleeved shirts!


It was raining so we had to take the picture through the windshield so it's not very good. I still had to include it.
Noah was so excited to find out fireworks were legal in New Mexico and South Dakota! He was a little bummed when I only let him pick out wimpy stuff like sparklers, snakes, and smoke bombs. I told him he'd have to wait until his dad was with him on the way back to pick out any of the loud ones.
We lit some sparklers and Noah and Caleb were afraid of them! Luke wasn't at all. Once they saw a baby, as they both call him, hold one they had to man up.
It's not so bad!

Last Night In South Dakota

Luke fell in the hotel room and smacked his eye. It's going to be great for all of our family vacation photos!
We walked along a little avenue of shops and the kids HAD to ride the mechanical horses.
Giddy-up!
Even the big kid wanted to ride.
We ate dinner at a "Mexican" restaurant. I use quotes just because it was the least authentic food I have ever had. I guess we get spoiled living in Arizona.

Some More From Day Four!

We went on a chairlift that took you to the top of a mountain. You had the choice of taking it back down or taking a slide down. Of course we took the slide! It was kind of like a bobsled and was so much fun. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get pictures since we were all on it at the same time.


We went to the Rushmore Caves and as we started to walk down into it, I found out that I was much more claustrophobic than I thought. I'm embarrassed to say I started to have a panic attack and had to leave. The kids were kind of upset they didn't get to go, so I bought them these miner hats. Caleb and Luke were getting in the cabinet under our sink in our hotel room with them on. Luke wouldn't pose for me. Shocker!

More From Mt. Rushmore

There is a walkway lined with pillars that have all of the state flags on them as you walk to the main viewing area.
Noah and Caleb with the Arizona flag.
There were tons of chipmunks running around. They would dive into the trash cans to get food. I think the boys enjoyed this the most.
A cute brotherly moment. They were of course watching chipmunks!
Noah trying on hats in the gift shop.

Day Four!

We went to Mt. Rushmore today. It's not exactly what I expected, I thought we could get closer than we did. There were some trails you could hike up, but I wasn't willing to try with the little ones. It was still really cool and the area you can walk around is really beautiful, lots of cool rocks and tons of pine trees. And now we can say we were there! How cool is that?!


A cute shot of the kids. Luke rarely agrees to be in a picture. He was too busy running around exploring!
Caleb wanted to take a picture. A little cropped, but I thought it was cute.
Doesn't Luke have such a devious look on his face?
Look at those rain clouds behind Katie and Noah. It started raining on us as we were walking to the car. Good timing! It hailed on us as we drove back into town.